The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (anime)
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya follows the high school life of Haruhi Suzumiya, a young and very active high school girl, and those who are caught up in her antics. While Haruhi is the central character to the plot, the story is told from the point of view of Kyon, one of Haruhi's classmates. As the story progresses she meets many new people like the time traveler Mikuru Asahina, or the alien Yuki Nagato, and the esper Itsuki Koizumi. They become members of the SOS Brigade. They were all sent to monitor and observe Haruhi since she has the ability to destroy the universe and make another one. So their mission is to keep her from getting bored or it will be the end of the universe, so they try many antics to keep her entertained. Setting The anime is set in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan, which happens to be site of the Kwansei Gakuin University, where Nagaru Tanigawa studied. Names of real train stations and baseball teams were altered in the anime; this includes: the Kitaguchi Station seen in the anime which is actually the Hankyu Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station, the Kōyōen Station (光陽園駅, Kōyōen Station?) is named after the real Hankyu Kōyōen Station (甲陽園駅, Kōyōen Station?), only the kanji is different; the rival baseball team featured in episode four, Kamigahara Pirates (上ヶ原パイレーツ, Kamigahara Pirates?), has the same name of its real life counterpart, Uegahara Pirates of the Kwansei Gakuin University, only the reading of the first kanji (上) is different. North High School where Kyon, Haruhi, and the rest of the SOS Brigade members attend is the real life location of Nishinomiya Kita High School. In addition, several scenes in the anime include faithful portrayals of the scenery in and around Nishinomiya. The anime is set in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan, which happens to be site of the Kwansei Gakuin University, where Nagaru Tanigawa studied. Names of real train stations and baseball teams were altered in the anime; this includes: the Kitaguchi Station seen in the anime which is actually the Hankyu Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station, the Kōyōen Station (光陽園駅, Kōyōen Station) is named after the real Hankyu Kōyōen Station (甲陽園駅, Kōyōen Station), only the kanji is different; the rival baseball team featured in episode four, Kamigahara Pirates (上ヶ原パイレーツ, Kamigahara Pirates?), has the same name of its real life counterpart, Uegahara Pirates of the Kwansei Gakuin University, only the reading of the first kanji (上) is different. North High School where Kyon, Haruhi, and the rest of the SOS Brigade members attend is the real life location of Nishinomiya Kita High School.12 In addition, several scenes in the anime include faithful portrayals of the scenery in and around Nishinomiya. Production Episodes The episodes of the anime were aired in an anachronic order: The prologue; seven chapters of the first novel, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya; and epilogue, are arranged into six episodes that were kept in order, but arranged in between these were episodes taken from chapters of some of the later novels. The earliest example of this is that episode two is chronologically the first episode. During the previews for the next episode, the viewers are given two different numbers for the following episode (except for episode number twelve); one number from Haruhi, who numbers the episodes according to where they fit chronologically in the plot, and one number from Kyon, who lists the episode numbers in the order in which they aired. Episode twelve happened to be both the twelfth episode aired and the twelfth episode chronologically; and particularly, Kyon mentions it during its preview. The standard edition DVD release uses "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina" as the first episode, but otherwise follows the chronological order. List Of The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Episode List Chronologically "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 1" "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu I" (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱I) Kyon enters high school as a first year student and meets a strange girl by the name of Haruhi Suzumiya. During her class introduction, she states that she has no time for normal humans and asks that any time-travelers, aliens, or espers come out and join her. Interested in her, Kyon becomes the first person to solicit a normal conversation from Haruhi. This leads Haruhi to form the SOS Brigade. "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 2" "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu II" (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱II) Haruhi starts the SOS Brigade with four members: Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina, and herself. Haruhi begins to improve the clubroom's appearance, but still feels that it is missing something — a computer. Going next door to the Computer Society's clubroom, Haruhi manages to obtain a computer through dubious means. She enlists the help of Mikuru to help promote the SOS Brigade by dressing up as a bunny girl and handing out fliers. Later, Yuki invites Kyon to her apartment, where she begins to unveil a secret about Haruhi and herself. "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 3" "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu III" (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱III) Yuki completes her explanation of the Integrated Data Entity and how it relates to herself and to Haruhi. Furthermore, she discusses Haruhi's powers, and how she could destroy and recreate the world on a whim. Kyon, while simply trying to understand all of what Yuki had told him, is initially skeptical of her story. The SOS Brigade gets a new member — a mysterious transfer student by the name of Itsuki Koizumi. On a day off from school, the SOS Brigade searches the city in groups to try to investigate mysteries, during which Mikuru reveals to Kyon the existence of time-travelers. Kyon later confronts Itsuki and learns of the Agency. "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 4" "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu IV" (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱IV) Haruhi is visibly bored and is not her usual energetic self. Ryōko Asakura, the class president, is concerned and asks Kyon to help her. Kyon later finds a mysterious letter in his locker, which directs to come to a classroom, where Ryōko confronts him. Ryōko attempts to kill Kyon, but is stopped by Yuki. Later, Kyon meets Mikuru's older self that had traveled from the future, who reveals a clue essential to his future: Snow White. "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 5" "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu V" (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱V) Haruhi enlists the help of Kyon to attempt to investigate what happened to Ryōko, as Haruhi believes it strange that she would transfer without notice. After a fruitless search, Haruhi tells Kyon about her earlier years, and how she changed from an ordinary girl into her present state. Later that day, Itsuki tells Kyon his organization's theories about Haruhi, and shows him some of his powers within a sealed reality. "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 6" "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu VI" (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱VI) Haruhi becomes frustrated and jealous of Mikuru's friendly relationship with Kyon. One night, Haruhi's power is activated without her knowing. Haruhi and Kyon become trapped in a sealed reality at their school. Before long, a blue giant appears and begins to destroy the school and the surrounding area. As more appear, Kyon and Haruhi evacuate the school. Kyon uses hints, provided by Yuki and Mikuru beforehand, to defuse the situation and escape. In the end, he expresses his desire to return to the old world and kisses Haruhi, which brings the two back to the "old world". It is not indicated if the world that Kyon returns to is really the previous world, or if it is the new world that Haruhi created during their time inside closed space. "The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya" "Suzumiya Haruhi no Taikutsu" (涼宮ハルヒの退屈) Haruhi has once again become bored. In an effort to alleviate some of this stagnation, Haruhi enters the SOS Brigade into a baseball tournament. Due to a lack of players, Tsuruya, Taniguchi, Kunikida, and Kyon's sister are recruited into the team. However, the team is hopelessly inept, and if they lose, Haruhi might destroy the world. To remedy the situation, Yuki uses her powers to alter the course of the game. "Mystérique Sign" "Misuterikku Sain" (ミステリックサイン) The SOS Brigade's website has been created, but it is composed of little more than the club logo. Coincidentally, the SOS Brigade gets their first case after the website goes up — they are to find the missing Computer Research Society President. Upon going to his apartment, they find that he is not there, and nothing seems too out of the ordinary on the surface. After the Brigade leaves, the members, excluding Haruhi, return to the apartment where they find that Haruhi's SOS Brigade logo and a Data Entity are behind the disappearance. "Remote Island Syndrome Part 1" "Kotō Shōkōgun (Zenpen)" (孤島症候群（前編）) A "distant relative" of Itsuki's allows the SOS Brigade, along with Kyon's sister, to stay at his newly built island villa. On their first day there, they enjoy the island's facilities, but are soon drawn inside by the arrival of a storm. While waiting for the storm to pass, Haruhi and her friends play games in doors and have fun together. Later, the owner of the villa disappears, and everyone starts searching for him. Ultimately, the SOS Brigade members find him dead in his room. "Remote Island Syndrome Part 2" "Kotō Shōkōgun (Kōhen)" (孤島症候群（後編）) Haruhi and the SOS Brigade attempt to find clues to the villa owner's murder. Yutaka, the owner's younger brother, is initially suspect due to having been seen leaving the island the previous day before the storm hit. Haruhi and Kyon head outside during the storm, but find nothing. While drying off inside a cave, Haruhi comes to a startling conclusion about the murder. They return to the villa and set to devising a plan to solve the mystery. Still, at the end, there never was a murder. "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00" "Asahina Mikuru no Bōken Episode 00" (朝比奈ミクルの冒険 Episode00) The SOS Brigade previews their movie of questionable quality. In the movie, Mikuru Asahina stars as a time-travelling waitress from the future who must engage in fights with Yuki Nagato, who is playing as an alien-magician. Mikuru has sworn to protect a young man, played by Itsuki Koizumi, but a love-triangle ensues with both Mikuru and Yuki vying for Itsuki's affections. Kyon is the narrator of the movie, while Haruhi Suzumiya is the director. "Live Alive" "Raibu Araibu" (ライブアライブ) On the day of the school's cultural festival, the members of the SOS Brigade are involved in different activities. Mikuru, along with Tsuruya, and their class open a fried noodles café, Yuki attempts fortune telling, and Itsuki is in a play. Kyon attempts to enjoy a normal day. Kyon goes to the auditorium, where bands are playing for the audience, and falls asleep. When he awakens, he sees Haruhi walking on stage in a bunny girl costume with a guitar hanging from her shoulders, which makes him surprised at the beginning. "The Day of Sagittarius" "Iteza no Hi" (射手座の日) Hoping to reclaim the computer Haruhi extorted from the Computer Research Society earlier in the year, the Computer Research Society President challenges the SOS Brigade to a computer game they created for the cultural festival entitled "The Day of Sagittarius III." Haruhi accepts their challenge, but soon finds out that playing the game is much harder than she thought. Yuki is initially mystified by the computer's operation but catches on quickly, as she will tend to do. Eventually she manages to find out the guys from the Computer Society club are cheating and is able to block and use it against them, thus winning the game and some laptops for the SOS Brigade clubroom. "Someday in the Rain" "Samudei in za Rein" (サムデイ イン ザ レイン) The skies are overcast with a chance of rain, and Haruhi instructs Kyon to go pick up a heater. With Kyon gone, Haruhi takes pictures of Mikuru in various costumes for the movie's DVD cover, Itsuki helps how he can, and Yuki is left alone to read. After Kyon returns, he finds only Yuki in the clubroom and decides to wait for the others, but falls asleep. When he awakens, he finds Haruhi alone with him, waiting for him to wake up so they can leave. It has already started raining, so Haruhi borrows an umbrella from school for them to use. When returning home, Kyon finds a more playful side to Haruhi and in the end, she pulls a playful tongue-out face. Music The anime had two opening themes; the first was "The Mikuru Legend of Love" (恋のミクル伝説, Koi no Mikuru Densetsu?) in episode one17 performed by Yuko Goto, and the second, spanning episode two through thirteen, was "It's an Adventure, Right? Right?" (冒険でしょでしょ?, Bōken Desho Desho??) performed by Aya Hirano. The main ending theme of the series was "Sunny Sunny Happiness" (ハレ晴レユカイ, Hare Hare Yukai?) performed by: Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Yuko Goto which spanned the first thirteen episodes. In the last episode, the extended version of "It's an Adventure, Right? Right?" was used as the ending theme.18 Several songs and musical pieces were included in the anime. Among the insert songs used were "God knows..." and "Lost my music" performed by Aya Hirano in episode twelve.19 A segment of Symphony No. 4 in F Minor 20 originally composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was used in episode eleven, Symphony No. 7 in C Major, "Leningrad" 21 originally composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in episode thirteen, and Symphony No. 8 in Eb Major, "Symphony of a thousand" 22 originally composed by Gustav Mahler used in episode fourteen. Awards The anime won the Animation Kobe Award for TV Feature in 2006.30 At the Sixth Annual Tokyo Anime Awards, the series won the category "Best TV Anime Series," along with Code Geass and Death Note. Furthermore, Aya Hirano won the "Voice Acting Award."3132 She also was among the "Best Actress in a leading role" category from the first Seiyū Awards. ASOS Brigade In December 2006, Bandai Entertainment registered the website asosbrigade.com, which was linked to from high-profile anime sites such as Anime News Network during the week of December 18.33 On December 22, 2006, the website opened with a live action presentation video resembling a fan-made production featuring Haruka Inoue and Akiyo Yamamoto in the roles of Mikuru Asahina and Yuki Nagato, with Haruhi Suzumiya being played by Patricia Ja Lee.7 The video confirmed (in Japanese) the specifics of the licensing arrangement. After a few days, a subtitled version of the video replaced the original on the site, translating the Japanese licensing announcement into English.3435 The website also linked to a blog on the popular social networking website MySpace, which entered the list of the top 50 most viewed MySpace pages within 24 hours.36 On December 25, the website was updated with a Christmas message and a link to a page (in Japanese) allowing users to listen to and vote for clips of voice actresses performing the part of Mikuru in English. This practice continued as similar audition pages for Yuki,35 Itsuki,37 Kyon and Haruhi were posted in the days that followed. It was not made clear if the audition results would affect the casting choices at all, but the second audition page claimed that "the choices will be noted and taken into consideration." The audition pages have since been taken offline. On May 30, 2007 the SOS Brigade Invasion Tour was announced for Anime Expo 2007 on June 30. Aya Hirano, Yuko Goto, and Minori Chihara were part of this event, "being flown in directly from Japan." Anime Expo attendees were able to participate in the ASOS Dance Contest held on Friday and the winner would have the chance to dance on stage with the guests of honor.38link Ever since the event was announced, advance ticket sales for pre-registered attendees have caused AX officials to cut down on the amount of tickets sold due to the overwhelming amount of advanced tickets sold (despite the event being free of charge to attend).39link40link New Season The second season of the anime series was announced in a full-page advertisement of Asahi Shimbun on July 7, 2007 in Japan.8 Promotional videos included a live action sequence, inspired by the "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" chapter from the third novel, depicting Haruhi and Kyon breaking into school grounds with the footage taken from surveillance cameras. On December 18, 2007, the anime's official website, haruhi.tv, was replaced by a fake 404 error with five form input fields, a reference to the pivotal date in The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fourth volume in the light novel series.9 A re-broadcast of the first series began in April 2009.10 Following a comment by Teletama, one of the broadcasting stations, that the 2009 broadcast would be twenty-eight episodes long, there was speculation that the re-broadcast will be followed by the second season, though this has not been confirmed by Kadokawa.11 However, TV Wakayama lists the eighth broadcasted episode of the re-broadcast as a new episode reported to air on May 24, 2009.12 Spin-off series based on the parody manga The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒちゃんの憂鬱, Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yūutsu?) by Puyo and Nyoro~n Churuya-san (にょろーん☆ちゅるやさん?) by Eretto were announced in the October 2008 issue of the Shōnen Ace magazine. Originally scheduled to begin streaming on YouTube's Kadokawa Channel on February 13, 2009,6 the series began streaming the next day in Japanese and with English subtitles.13 All the voice actors of the original anime reprised their roles in both series. A DVD of the series will be released on May 29, 2009. Audio dramas A series of radio dramas have also been released. The first volume entitled SOS Dan Radio Shibu Bangai Hen CD Vol.1 is based on the anime version of the series and was released on July 5, 2006 by Lantis. The second volume was released on September 21, 2006 while a third was released on December 21, 2006. A drama CD entitled Sound Around, based on the anime adaptation was released on January 24, 2007 by Lantis. Video games List of Haruhi Suzumiya video games Five separate video games have been produced based on the series. Banpresto released an adventure game available for the PlayStation 2 on January 31, 2008 called The Perplexity of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの戸惑, Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi?).2122 It was the 95th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 139,425 copies.23 Namco Bandai Games released another adventure game, The Promise of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの約束, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku?),24 for the PlayStation Portable on December 20, 2007. The third game developed by Kadokawa Shoten for the Wii, The Excitement of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの激動, Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekidō?), was released on January 22, 2009.2526 The fourth and fifth games by Sega for the Nintendo DS (The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの直列, Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu?)) and the Wii (The Parallel of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの並列, Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu?)) are still in development and slated for release on March 26, 2009.27 Reception The first novel of the series, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was awarded the Grand Prize in the eighth annual Sneaker Awards—only the third Grand Prize given out in the Award's history. The series went on to be a huge success in Japan, selling over 4,300,000 copies collectively.28link In December 2006, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime adaptation was the most popular anime series in Japan according to Newtype magazine.29 The first two volumes had sold 70,000 and 90,000 units respectively as of August 2006.30 A 2006 online poll of Japan's top 100 favorite animated television series of all time, conducted by TV Asahi, placed the series in fourth place.31 By the end of 2007, the seventh installment of the series sold 45,000 units.32 The anime adaption won the Animation Kobe Award for TV Feature in 2006.33 At the Sixth Annual Tokyo Anime Awards, the series won the category "Best TV Anime Series" and Aya Hirano won the "Voice Acting Award."3435 External Links http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-17/new-haruhi-suzumiya-anime-series-details-revealed New Haruhi Suzumiya Anime Series Details Revealed http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6430 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV) Category:Media